


Can't Take My Eyes Off The Eclipse

by oliwellwhocares



Series: Try And Catch The Moon [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Funny, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Humor, M/M, Magic, Other Witches, Slow Burn, Witch Akaashi Keiji, Witch Kozume Kenma, Witchcraft, suga uses they pronouns bc it's like that, yes i'm very funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 16:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18673309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliwellwhocares/pseuds/oliwellwhocares
Summary: "Come on Kuroo, you’ve never met someone this pretty, don’t blow this up."Kenma works at his parent's magic shop, and Kuroo doesn't believe in magic.





	1. Burnt Wood

**Author's Note:**

> Title from a LOONA song, I forgot which one. Enjoy Kuroken day!

Here is the thing: Kuroo was gay, but he was also a scientist. So he was really confused.

He supposes it would be rude to just ask. It would probably come out wrong: “are you trying to pretend to be a witch?”, or “is this a prank?”, or maybe “so, we both know that magic isn’t real, right? So what are you trying to do here?”.

And you know, this wouldn’t be a problem in another situation. Kuroo was sometimes rude, he was kind of an asshole, and he thought there was no harm in having fun with astrology or stuff like, whatever was going on with this guy, as long as you realized how ridiculous and unrealistic you sounded. So yeah, he had ruined some relationships by asking questions like that, but he was fine with it.

The problem was _him_. This guy. The… witch. Or whatever. He couldn’t do that with him.

See, he had been looking for a book that his literature teacher had asked for, except it was a mandatory class that he didn’t really care much about, so he had been going around old book stores in the neighborhood, trying to find an ancient, damaged, and most importantly cheap version of whatever french bullshit this guy had decided that they needed to study.

The store had seemed perfect: tucked away in a tiny street, shop windows decorated with hanging plants and books so old that the title wasn’t even written on the cover. Once he went inside, he also observed that they had made the charming, but very stupid and frankly dangerous decision to rely on candles for half of the lighting, the only electrical source of light being the weird chandelier hanging from the ceiling, in the middle of the store. It didn’t provide enough light to browse most of the shelves, since it was already dark out, so he had to pick up a candle (judging by the stock of them at the entrance, attached to cute old little handles, they were actually made for this).

However, once he had started to actually read the titles, and sometimes the first few words of certain books, he began to realize that his weird research for old french literature might actually not be weird enough for what was happening here.

The books were about… Witchcraft, he supposed. Magic, and not in the Harry Potter, fictional way: they were books that seemed very serious, about how to practice magic. Or at least, that’s what he got for a few of them: for quite a lot, he just… Didn’t understood. He supposed it was about magic still, throwing around terms that sounded mystical, but he had no idea what the words (that sometimes seemed _handwritten_ for fuck’s sake) were meant to say.

So. Not understanding the subject of more than half the books, barely being able to read in the dim light, and not having any idea what kind of organization, if any, was supposed to help find what he was looking for, he really only had one last alternative.

“Excuse me? Is someone here?”

A few seconds, a full minute, then two, passed, letting him alone in the middle of the silence. He coughed, let another minute pass, and tried again.

“Excuse me?”

This time, almost immediately, there was a sigh, coming from the shelf behind him. He went around it, only to be faced with an empty space.

“Yes?”

He jumped, turning around to discover a boy that was _way too pretty._ He was small, with big eyes, seemed to be around his own age. Or, you know, maybe a thousand years older. It was hard to say, hard to think about anything, really, with this golden stare set on him, unblinking. Or, well, probably blinking. Logically speaking. Maybe blinking slowly, or at the same time as he did, but definitely blinking.

“Do you need something?”

Shit, how long had he been staring at him silently? Come on Kuroo, you’ve never met someone this pretty, don’t blow this up.

“I’m looking for a book...” excellent beginning, clever, unpredictable, perfect. “And, hmm… I can’t really see well with this...” He shrugged, a gesture meant to encompass the candle still in his hand, the weird lamp, and the dark skies outside (and now that he was thinking about it, it _was_ pretty late, right? Late enough for it to be weird for a bookstore to still be open). And okay, maybe the light, or lack thereof, wasn’t his main issue in his quest for the book, but the quest had just changed. New goal: get the boy.

The boy in question sighed again, finally letting his eyes drop, then turned around slowly, like he really wanted him to understand how much of a hardship this was for him to care about his light problems. He walked towards the little counter at the entrance of the shop, which didn’t really looked like a counter since it was cluttered with pile of books with precarious balance, and a few teacups on top.

At this point, Kuroo was still expecting him to flick a switch somewhere, or maybe get some matches to light a few candles. At this point, Kuroo still thought he understood.

When the boy reached the desk, he began to realize that he didn’t understand shit.

The lights in the shop were brighter. All the lights. The chandelier was finally shining like a normal lamp, properly illuminating the middle shelves. The candle flames were stronger, and maybe a few of them had just started burning, reaching the corners of the shop, bringing to attention the books and cushions cluttering on the floor in some areas. Even the windows seemed cleaner, letting the shine of the street lights and the moon inside.

He turned back to the mysterious clerk, who was sitting on a chair dissimulated by the piles cluttering the desk. Or at least, he assumed there was a chair, and that the boy wasn’t just sitting on empty air. Considering the stupid trick he had just pulled, this theory wasn’t completely impossible.

For a guy who might be sitting on thin air just to look cool, he stilled looked ridiculously pretty. He tucked a brown hair lock behind his ear, and leaned forward, grabbing one of the cups arranged randomly on the surface.

“Do you need something else?”

This almost made him jump again. This time, the golden eyes were avoiding him, fixated on the cup that he was playing with. Right. The boy was getting weirder by the second, but he had to be honest with himself: he also seemed prettier each time he looked back, so until the balance between those two elements shifted, the plan ‘no book until you get everything pretty boy is willing to give’ was still in motion.

He walked towards the entrance himself, half expecting the lights to do a trick again. They didn’t. He was left to lean against the desk, which allowed him to see that there was actually a chair, hidden behind the mess, and covered in cat hairs.

“What’s your name?”

This made the hands holding the cup shift again, and earned him another sigh, but also an answer.

“Kenma.”

“Just Kenma?”

“Just Kenma”, he confirmed, but his voice had changed, a little bit. The emotionless tone was getting a bit colored, but he would be unable to tell which feeling was getting to him.

“I’m Kuroo Tetsurou.”

Kenma nodded, a clear gesture for _I don’t really care_. And okay, he was not going to lie, this was not going exactly well, but it could have been worse. He had had worse dates. His gaze fell to the object still held in the delicate hands, and look at that, a new subject of conversation!

“Can I have some tea?”

This stopped his fidgeting, and this time, Kenma didn’t sigh: he did this little blocked exhalation, like he really wanted to sigh, but his employer had told him that he shouldn’t do it so much in front of clients. Kuroo was still counting this as a win.

Slowly, with gestures clearly meant to convey his annoyance, he turned around, reaching for a cup on the other side, opposite Tetsurou. And okay, he had been a bit rude, asking for tea in a book store, but he was trying to flirt here, so really, he thinks the guy’s unfair beauty should be taken into account to explain his attitude. So when the maybe-witch turned around and just presented the cup in front of his client’s hands, his first thought was “ _oh well, who’s being rude now?_ ”

And then, he looked at the cup. And this was the moment where his desire to smooch such a pretty face truly entered in conflict with his asshole scientist brain.

The cup was full. A clear liquid, brown-orange, swirling, was emitting volutes of light smoke, and a sweet smell. He closed his fingers around the offering, realizing that yes, really, it was warm. He raised his eyes to ask if “ _are you trying to poison me?_ ”, but proceeded to be immediately distracted by the tea that Kenma was holding. A cup that had been empty, and a little dusty, a second ago, was filled with a light green mixture, seeming as warm and delicious as his own.

So now, there he was. A confused, gay scientist.

Kenma was drinking his tea, calmly, apparently far from caring about his client who was just standing there, probably looking kind of stupid.

The end of this meeting was fairly predictable, from his end. When he hesitates between being science and homosexuality, he usually ends up being a loser.

“Hmm, so… I’m looking for- ah-”

He took out his phone, fumbled, almost dropped his cup, managed to put it down without further damage, and was finally able to pull out his phone. Of course, he opened three wrong applications, then ended up getting to his mails, and scrolled aimlessly for a few seconds, before remembering what he was looking for, and finally, finally finding his reference.

“Hm, l-le wooge ey-”

Kenma mercilessly interrupted his pathetic attempt to decipher the title, with, of course, what sounded to him like a perfect (and seductive) french accent.

“Le Rouge et Le Noir? Stendhal, right?”

“Yeah, that.” So, operation flirting was visibly a failure, but at least he’ll have his damn book.

“We don’t have it.”

Oh.

“Do you- hm- know where I can find it?”

Congratulations, Kuroo. Very smooth, really. It’s a wonder how anyone resists you.

“You can try Turn The Page. You know where it is?”

“Yeah.” He already tried this one, but at this point, all he could do was cut the damage and escape.

Before passing through the door, he remembered the teacup, abandoned on the desk, smelling like honey. He didn’t taste it. He definitely should have.

“Thank you for the tea, Kenma.”

He didn’t know why, but that’s what finally made him look in his eyes again. Unwavering golden stare, and yeah, he was pretty sure of it at this point, he didn’t blink.

“I hope you’ll like the book.”

Kuroo smiled, his big grin that showed too much teeth and was not at all charming.

“I’ll tell you about it next time!”

 

* * *

 

“He’s your type.”

Kenma didn’t like to close his eyes. It was weird, being surrounded by darkness, being cut off from the swirls and shifts of the light, even for just a second. He usually didn’t do it if he could avoid it. The advantage of one of your brother being a dream witch was that, with the years, his sleep had gotten better and better, and nowadays, he could fall asleep immediately every night, being able to escape what had terrified him for years, the long minutes of being isolated from what he knew, lost in the shadows.

But sometimes, he just had to close his eyes, allow himself to calm down, away from the lights, away from his magic. Breathe, and choose what to do.

That’s what happened when he heard Keiji’s words. His solution ended up being what it often was, when Keiji said something that he didn’t like: he didn’t answer.

His friend went back to the back of the store, losing himself in books again. Both of them didn’t like to be disturbed, and he had shielded them both in shadows the moment Kuroo had passed the door. When he eventually had had to do his job, he still hadn’t looked at the visitor’s face.

This had proved to be a mistake. Kenma knew that he was easily disturbed by pretty people, but he also knew how good he was at not letting it show. For the gods’ sake, he worked with Akaashi Keiji, and when almost everything in life stresses you out, you learn to act casual.

Well, he still wasn’t ready for Kuroo Tetsurou. That’s why he couldn’t answer anything to his friend. Yes, he was his type. He was exactly his type, and he had made that painfully obvious by _staring_ at him during the gods know how long.

He also usually didn’t like using obvious magic in front of people. It attracted too much attention. But Kuroo had complained about the lights, with a half-smile, and this stupid, cliché, deep voice, and it shouldn’t have been cute but somehow it was, and he hadn’t stop to think. It was just, “ _oh, I can do something about that, I’ll light up the place Kuroo, anything for you Kuroo_ ”. He hated when the emotional part of him took control, he always ended up doing stupid things. Like getting so carried away with the lights that he had dropped Keiji’s disguise for a second, so if his coworker hadn’t noticed how affected he was before that, he had sold himself out this instant. Or panicking so much over a (quite rude, really) demand for tea, because he couldn’t, really couldn’t, make tea, that he had ended up using the charms of one of his dads. Just like that, making some tea appear in front of a guy who obviously wasn’t up to date on the whole magic stuff.

And then he had corrected his french pronunciation, about a book that they didn’t even have in store, all of that in a desperate attempt to… What, impress him? “ _I hope you’ll like the book_ ”, by the gods, he really didn’t, reading this book was one of the most boring experience Kenma had ever had, and he hadn’t even finished it. Hadn’t even reached half of it, barely a third. That was before he was friend with Keiji, when they were just co-workers; after his dads had insisted that he had to at least try to befriend their new employee, he had asked him about the book he was reading. Which had been an enormous mistake, because it had lead to Keiji offering him to lend him the book, which had lead to him not knowing how to say no, and then, not knowing how to say “I wasn’t able to finish it because I was unable to stay interested for more than half of the first page of this pile of boredom”. Eventually, Keiji had asked him about a game he was playing, and they had had a great conversation about story telling through different medias and how people respond to it, and it had been the first time in his life that a literature student had been kind to him over his interest in video games, and had even been interested by it.

So yeah, Keiji was amazing. He knew that. Keiji also had an annoying habit of telling the truth, and it wasn’t always a problem, because like him, he didn’t usually talk much. But he seemed to be developing a habit of telling him truths that he knew, but would like not to think about. Like how bad he was at flirting. Okay, he hadn’t really said that, and it’s not like Kenma had really tried to flirt, he didn’t flirt, he never flirted, because he knew that it would be even worse than when he didn’t try. But still. He had been acting stupid with a pretty customer, and he would like to be allowed to forget about it.

“You seemed like his type too.”

This made him stop in thoughts, raising his eyes back to his friend, who was still sitting down on the floor, still only looking at his book. But like every time he talked, it had been impossible to ignore. But this time… Okay, Keiji didn’t lie. But that’s didn’t mean he knew everything. And in this case, he was obviously wrong. He could barely begin to explain how wrong he was. “ _I’m not anyone’s type_ ”, didn’t quite cover it. Not only that, but also, this guy was way too pretty and cool to ever care about anyone like him, and even as the best version of himself, he’ll never have a chance in hell with him. Something like that.

Not that he could say it. This was still recent, but his friend was becoming more familiar with his self-esteem and stress issues, and he usually had the reflex to refer to his siblings, or worse, his fathers, to talk it out. And he really couldn’t be bothered with that right now. He’d like a little bit of time to mope in peace.

But if he didn’t answer with this part of his brain, maybe he could listen to the other one. The one telling him that, pretty and carefree didn’t have to stop him from _dreaming_.

“So maybe he’ll come back.”


	2. Pink Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i glow pink in the night in my room

Okay, it was panic time now. Someone should have told the gods that a little, fleeting, fragile hope that the cute guy who didn’t knew magic, and probably thought he was pathetic, would come back, didn’t mean that he actually wanted… That.

That being the cute guy, back in his parents’ store, saying “Hello, Kenma!”.

Hello. With a little wave, and an adorable way to pronounce his name, and this really stupid haircut falling on his right eye. His left iris, the only one visible, was golden, a bit darker than Kenma’s eyes. He hadn’t really had the opportunity to see it last time, but right now, he was standing in the middle of the sunlight flowing through the windows, and it was a beautiful color, shining but mysterious. And Kenma was supposed to say something, really, it was becoming urgent, what do you answer to a hello?

“Do you need something?”

Not that. Certainly not that. Kuroo looked a bit shocked for a second, and this reminded Kenma that he had been staring for too long, and he definitely needed to stop now. With more difficulty than what he had expected, he fixated his eyes on his hair, then his clothes, he was wearing a uniform now, the same college that Keiji attended. Okay, shoulders. This was a good place to look. Nice shoulders.

“Well, kind of. Have you read the book?”

This was about the book. Obviously.

“Le Rouge et Le Noir? Yeah.”

Okay, not exactly. But he was panicking a little bit, and apparently his default mode in this case was _lie to impress the pretty person_.

“Great! Could you make me a summary?”

What a mistake.

“It’s just, in the end I couldn’t find it, but I kinda need to know what happens in it so I can bullshit the teacher, so, if you’re okay with it, it would be amazing of you to tell me, like, the plot, and who the main characters are? Not much, just, enough to get by, you know?”

 _Bold of you to assume this book has any semblance of plot_ , he immediately thought. Okay, no. Bad, Kenma. What were his options here. Admit that he had lied, invent a plot, tell him to search it on the internet. No real good solution.

“Of course, if you-”

“I haven’t really-”, they interrupted at the same time.

“You haven’t what?”, asked Kuroo.

Too late to back down. At least Keiji would be proud of him for telling the truth. By the way, he took a second to be grateful that at least today, nobody was here to see him humiliate himself.

“I haven’t really read it. I tried, some times ago, but it was unbearably boring and I couldn’t finish it”.

Kuroo burst out laughing. Really, burst was the right word: one of his hand gripped the surface of his desk, and the other clutched his chest, while he threw his head backwards. His laugh was boisterous, and pretty ridiculous, it sounded like a cartoon laugh. It was a little bit like that smile that he had left with the other day: really not as cool as he seemed to be at first glance. Maybe he had been wrong about the whole ‘too cool for you’ part. Maybe he was just a dork. Infuriatingly, this didn’t make him any less charming.

 

* * *

 

 

Kuroo was beginning to realize that maybe, his first impression about Kenma hadn’t been completely correct. Granted, he had had at least two, maybe three different first impressions about him during their first meeting. Now, he was simply beginning to think that he just didn’t had any idea what kind of person he was. A weird guy who did magic-like tricks, who either stared at people or didn’t look at them at all, who didn’t read french literature because it was boring, and who was still too pretty for Kuroo’s health. He didn’t know what to expect anymore, but maybe that was fine.

“Oh man”, his breath slowly came back to him, and he slumped a little on the desk, “I can relate to that. I tried to look it up on Wikipedia but I didn’t even understood the article.”

Kenma… He didn’t smile, really, but his face relaxed a little bit, and it was really cute. He couldn’t wait to see what would actually earn him a smile.

“I’ll try to ask Keiji, he’s read the book, but I can’t guarantee he’ll be any more understandable than Wikipedia.”

He frowned, just a little bit, scrunching his nose, and he was too cute and Kuroo was going to _die_.

“He might have wrote the Wikipedia article actually.”

There was a little clear space on the desk, between three teacups stacked precariously on top of each other, and two enormous books. Not big enough for him to sit on, but he could at least lean against it without fear of sending the whole thing to the ground.

“I know all kinds of nerds, but literature nerd is the only one I’m missing, and it’s the one I need right now...” He sighed dramatically, hoping to get a new reaction. Instead, the soft expression from earlier came back, the one where he looked like he was almost ready to smile. Still satisfying enough for Kuroo.

“And what kind of nerd are you?”, asked Kenma.

Kuroo definitely had a big-ass crush at this point, but he was still an asshole, and for a second, he was tempted to answer “ _the kind who doesn’t believe in magic_ ”, or something like that. But you know, he really shouldn’t, Kenma was great, and hopefully, he’ll have time to ask him about all that happened last time, politely, so he settled for “Chemistry nerd, actually. Mixing things up and hoping they’ll blow up!”

And then without having the time to think, he added “A bit like the both of us”. And he winked, because of course he did.

But it was fine! This was fine. He was chill now, he was going with the flow.

And Kenma was blushing. It was subtle, but his mouth was hanging open, and the tips of his ears were red, peaking between his hair. And he should probably say something about the hair.

“I like your new color, by the way!”

Kenma pulled himself back together, closed his mouth, straightened a bit. He looked carefully neutral again, but now he knew that he could have this kind of effect on him, even though he was going to do his best to avoid abusing of this power.

Oh, who was he kidding, he was going to do this again at the first occasion.

But for know, he enjoyed seeing his crush passing a strand of hair between his fingers. It was a soft pink, a little bit pastel. Last week, with the moon outside, and the yellow glow of the strange lighting inside, his dark brown hair had been appropriate, giving him this serious and mysterious look, hiding his face whenever he moved. Now, this new color was fitting too: the sun shined from behind him, forming a pale halo around his face, dozens of nuances of pink reflecting on his cheeks. He was really, really pretty.

“My little brother is experimenting.”

Oh, fuck. There was a little brother. Really, every time he thought Kenma couldn’t get cuter, he pulled some shit like that. He was letting his little brother dye his hair? Really?

“Thank you. I suppose it’s okay.”

“Okay?” Oh no, he couldn’t tolerate that. “No, not just that. It really suits you. You’re lovely.”

And really, he hadn’t even thought about it. He was just thinking that it would be intolerable for someone so beautiful to not take pride in their appearance, ego trip be damned. But obviously, it’s not like he was going to complain that the _I’d really like not to blush right now but somehow I still am_ look was back.

It was even cuter this time, because Kenma didn’t looked shocked. He just looked… A little bit offended. Like he couldn’t believe that Tetsurou had the audacity to compliment him. He was frowning, and staring at Kuroo’s shoulder even harder than before.

A few seconds passed, making it clear than he wasn’t going to get an answer. That was fine, he liked talking, and if his reward was those adorable pink ears, then really, what was he waiting for?

“What about you? What kind of nerd are you?”

Ah, this changed the mood. The golden eyes moved, still not crossing his, but settling on a point just beside his head. Kenma pursued his lips for a moment, probably thinking about his answer.

“A magic nerd, I guess.”

Oh, so this was about that. Well, if Kenma really wanted to talk about it…

“Yeah, magic.” Kuroo tried to formulate an appropriate question, but only ended up with: “So what’s up with that?”

Silence, again. Obviously. Maybe this had been poorly worded.

“Okay, sorry. Well…” Why was this beginning to feel like a test for him? If anyone had to explain themselves here, it was the guy with pink hair pretending to be a witch. “What did you do with the lights last time?”

“I lighted them up. I can do that.”

Answers weren’t really more helpful than silence.

“How can you do that?”

“I learned”, answered Kenma, “and also, that’s what I’m good at.”

“There was also the tea”, he countered, “are you good at this too?”

“No, that was my dad”. Oh, this was becoming really confusing. “They’re good with plants. They prepared the cups, I just… Activated it.”

At this point, he really didn’t know what to say. It was weird, really fucking weird, and he would have liked an explanation, but he wasn’t sure if Kenma really wanted to give it, and he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to hear it. As much as he was trying to convince himself that it was a stupid prank, Kuroo knew he relied on his intuition a lot. And his intuition, much like the rest of him, was currently praying for the increasingly fragile foundations of his worldviews to stay solid.

“You don’t believe me”, a soft voice interrupted his existential crisis. Softer than before, and the golden eyes had dropped too, lower than his shoulders this time, just fixated on the ground.

“I really don’t know what to believe right now.”

He studied his interlocutor a little bit, a little bit more. The big golden eyes, and by the way, obviously, no, he was still not blinking. The pink curtain shielding both sides of his head, hiding his mouth from Tetsurou’s view. His hands playing, with tiny movements, with the pages of the book he had been reading when he came in. The book was huge, filled with a tiny script that seemed handwritten, like those books he had randomly opened last time. It was funny to think that the guy who claimed that he hadn’t been able to finish a boring old french book was willingly going through this mountain. All those things were things he really, really wanted to learn more about.

“Can you show me?” Oh shit, this whole going with the flow, not thinking too much stuff was turning against him. “I mean, if you want to, I guess I’m not the first random guy to ask you that, it probably annoys you but-”

“Okay.”

Okay. Okay? Really?

“Oh. Hum, thanks?” He didn’t know what to do now. Should he just wait for him to do something magic-y? What will he do then, study him?

“Next time, okay?”, proposed Kenma.

Oh. That was a bit disappointing.

“Come back when the moon is up. It will be better.”

“Can’t wait.” He smiled again, automatically, when he saw that the pink-haired boy’s expression was relaxed again. This guy really had a terrible power over him.

He stood up, realizing that maybe, he couldn’t stay in here all day. He had homework. And also, a nap to take so the night would come faster. Great plan.

“Kuro.” The quiet voice interrupted him on the spot. Was that just a mispronunciation? A nickname? Either way, he was loving it. He turned to Kenma, intent on telling him to please, never stop calling him that, but this time, he was beaten to the punch. The pink haired boy smiled, a smile he had been hoping to see all day, all week, a tiny, nearly invisible, satisfied smile. And he winked. For a second, the whole world went black, the only light being a golden iris, slit like a cat’s eye, right where Kenma’s face had been. But this couldn’t be him. And then everything returned to normal. The book store, the sun, Kenma’s perfectly blank face, and Kuroo on the edge of madness.

“See you next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this update, don't hesitate to comment if you did! Thank you for reading! Quote at the beginning is from Pink in the night by Mitski.


	3. Midnight Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> our universe was brought to life so that we may fall in love every time we open up our eyes

Kuroo didn’t return to the shop that night.

The part of him that was still convinced that Kenma was just an asshole, a good actor, and excellent at magic tricks, was angry because this just left him more time to prepare whatever illusion he had up his sleeve.

Mostly, the rest of him agreed. He needed to rest. He needed to think, to decide if he really wanted to keep flirting with a pink-haired guy, who was maybe a witch, who worked in a shady shop, of unknown age and given name (or last name? He actually had no idea what part of his name he knew, did he only have one name?) and who did unspeakable things to his heart.

So. He needed to speak with Bokuto.

But apparently, nothing in his life went right anymore. This time, it manifested as the conversation going weird right at its beginning.

Three times a week, when they had breaks at the same time, he met with his best friend at the coffee shop next to their campus. The official goal was to drink coffee and work, even though they both knew that they only ended up drinking liquid sugar with a little bit of coffee and gossiping.

“Okay so, I met a guy.”

Bokuto managed to produce an interested “Oh~” around the straw in his mouth.

“Except he’s like, the weirdest person I’ve ever met,” he continued, “Like, okay, you know how I was looking for this random french book for class?”

Koutarou was still sipping, which was a classic for him. He usually tried to drink his first cup in one go. Lately, he succeeded at half of his tries, but he was getting better. He nodded, frowning at his cup, but apparently still paying attention.

“So, I ended up in this weird-ass shop. It was full of old books, and like, plants, and there were a lot of candle, which, what kind of person decides to light a book store with candles? And like-” He was forced to interrupt himself when he saw Bokuto’s reaction. He was still sipping, but more forcefully than before, and his hands were flailing while he was making this excited noises, like he really wanted to say something but couldn’t because he was glued to his straw.

“For fuck’s sake bro, if you choke I’m not calling anyone this time.”

This made his friend frown, but he was obviously running short of breath, and finally, he raised his head. He took a big inspiration, while moving his cup around, eyeing the remaining liquid with disappointment.

This emotion was short-lived, as he almost immediately slammed his hands on the table, and exclaimed:

“I know it! The shop you’re talking about, I know what it is!”

Bokuto’s eyes were shining, and Kuroo couldn’t help but grin.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, man! Little street with the name covered so you don’t really know what it is, big dramatic door, a complete mess inside, hanging plants, stuff like that?”

“That’s the one.”

His friend was gripping the table, leaning more and more forward. At this point, Kuroo kinda knew what he was going to say. Bokuto was excited by many things, but his excitation had specific levels, and he knew this one.

“It’s Akaashi’s shop! Well, it’s not his, but you know, that’s where he works!”

That’s what he expected. Sparkles in his eyes, smile so big it looked like it was going to eat his whole face, that was the look Bokuto had every time he talked about his crush. Even though crush seemed like a pretty weak word at this point.

So, that was great for Bokuto. For him, it was just another weird element in the ocean of what-the-actual-fuck that surrounded Kenma.

“Man, it’s weird.”

“It is!”, agreed Bokuto excitedly.

“No, not weird as in ‘oh, what a fun coincidence’, weird as in ‘this place is super weird, and the guy I met there is super weird, and the fact that your crush works there makes him… weird’.”

His best friend’s eyes where still shining, but his smile fell.

“What’s weird about the book shop? And the guy? And I know Akaashi is a bit weird, but it’s not a bad weird.”

“Okay, first of all, let’s stop saying weird. It sounds...”

Kuroo stopped, obviously at a loss for words. He threw a look at his friend to make sure he understood him, and found that his smile had returned, stretched on his right cheek, the smile that meant he was mocking him.

“Yeah, you know.”

Bokuto went back to his straw to hide his snickering, leaving him to continue explaining himself.

“Anyway, so, like I told you, they use candles for lighting. Maybe you didn’t saw it, they only use it when it’s dark out, but, yeah. Also, have you ever opened a book there?”

Bokuto shook his head.

“They’re all about strange subjects, like, crystals, and dreams, and like… Spells and shit like that.”

“Magic shit?”, suggested his friend.

“Yeah. But not like magic tricks, like, they sound serious. Also, several of them are handwritten? And if this isn’t suspicious...”

Bokuto sucked up the last drops of his unholy beverage that the shop dared to call coffee before speaking up again.

“And what about the guy?”

“What”, Kuroo answered, raising an eyebrow, “the shop is not shady enough for you yet?”

His friend just shrugged. “Well, you said the guy was weird too, I’m just asking.”

Bokuto was… Chill. And Kuroo wasn’t, and this made him kinda uncomfortable, because he was used to the two of them being on the same page about most things.

“Yeah, so. The guy works there. Maybe Akaashi’s co-worker, actually? Wait”, he frowned, “Do you know Akaashi’s given name?”

“Of course man, it’s Keiji.” he smiled a little, pocking holes in his brownie with his straw. “It’s pretty, right?”

Used to Koutarou’s digressions about the other boy, Tetsurou ignored the second part.

“Yeah, so he’s probably Kenma’s coworker. Anyway-”

“Oh, your guy’s Kenma?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well”, his friend shrugged, “Akaashi mentioned him you know? I wouldn’t have thought you’d meet him, I’ve never seen him, and Akaashi said he mostly doesn’t speak with clients if he can avoid it.”

“Yeah, he seems pretty shy.” This was becoming more confusing by the second. “Although… He did flirt with me, I think.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaat?”

Okay, so after the overly relaxed reaction, Bokuto had swapped to complete excess. This was more like him, at least, but he didn’t really seemed surprised in a ‘well played bro’ way. Actually, he almost looked worried.

“I mean, I think he flirted. He winked. I think.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“I’m… Not sure of that.”

“You know he’s…” Bokuto hesitated. “I mean you’ve… Well, he’s like… the son of the owners.”, he finally concluded.

Okay, this was not how he expected this sentence to end.

“I… Guess I didn’t know? Does it matter?”

“Have you met the owners?”

“No?” Damn it, Kuroo had started this conversation to begin to understand what was going on, not to be even more confused.

“You’ve met him at night, you said?”

“The first time, yeah-”

“You’ve seen him more than once?”

“Twice, well, soon thrice I guess, he invited me to come back but-”

“He what!?”

“Ok, Bokuto, stop. What the fuck is this about.”

His friend was biting his lips, looking at the table, then the door, then his seat, everywhere but his face. And Kuroo knew this attitude, and this expression, this was how his friend acted when he was trying not to tell his mothers that he had skipped class because he had been busy drinking and lamenting about his crush with Kuroo. But this was _wrong_ , so wrong, they didn’t hide stuff from each other. The shop, and Kenma, had been strange from the beginning, but now this was affecting his best friend. It wasn’t just an interesting mystery anymore, well, it was still pretty interesting, but also kinda upsetting.

“You said you’ll meet him again soon?”, Bokuto finally answered.

“Yeah. He said to come back when sun’s down, but he didn’t specify a day.”

“You should go tonight. You should speak about it with him first.”

Kuroo sighed. “You’re talking about the magic, right.”

Bokuto nodded. “But we’ll talk about it!”

Finally, they smiled at each other.

“Yeah, first thing tomorrow. You and I versus magic, bro.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kenma was waiting under the moonlight. It was late, but it’s been exactly a week since Kuroo came. Two weeks since the first time they met each other. If he were to come, it would be today.

So there he was, waiting, seated on the pavement, back resting against one of the shop’s huge window. His book was open on his knees, covering his legs. It wasn’t the same that he had been reading last week, but it was from the same author. The next one in the series, sort of. They treated of different elemental magics, their connections with other types of magic, and why the author thought that the category of elemental magic wasn’t actually relevant nor useful. The last book had been about water magic and its connections to the notion of flow in general, and how nobody had ever actually demonstrated a clear cut preference for what was generally considered as water magic: it was more like a whole, movement, time, and life, coming together to create water, connecting everything.

This one was about fire and shadows. It was obviously relevant to his interests, and he was really looking forward to finish it to be able to confront it to his experience as a light-manipulating witch. And it wasn’t often that he actually got interested enough to look forward to something, so this was definitely noticeable. He had started it 3 days ago, and compared to his usual rhythm, he should have been at least at the half of the book by now.

He hadn’t even finished the first quarter.

The book was fine, not cursed, and as clever and interesting as he expected. The problem was him. He had been unable to focus during the whole week, dropping all sorts of objects, flickering lights he was supposed to keep bright, lightning up the whole kitchen when he had gotten up at night to drink milk, and he didn’t even need the light, dammit.

This whole mess was affecting him more than he would have liked. It had been years since he had exchanged more than five words with someone who knew nothing about magic. Even more so since he had tried to befriend someone like that.

Well, if their relationship so far could be called befriending. It didn’t exactly feel like that. But Kenma didn’t have a lot of friends to compare this with. His siblings, his parents, Keiji. Okay, it sounded kinda sad, but he was happy like that. He loved his family so much, and really, they brought enough action in his life as it was.

He closed his book with a sigh, glancing towards the sky. He stood up. Midnight had just passed. Kuroo was probably not going to come, and that was fine. Really. Kenma probably wasn’t prepared anyway to deal with… whatever relationship they would have had. And Kuroo not showing up probably meant that he wasn’t ready to deal with magic, so that was for the best for the both of them. Too much agitation was never a good idea.

Yes, if he thought about it hard enough, he would end up convincing himself, right?

“Kenma!”

Oh, by the gods.

He turned around, forcing himself to do it slowly enough to seem cool and collected. There was nothing he could do about his racing heart, but well, Kuroo didn’t have to know about that. And he could convince himself that it was because of the surprise. Yeah, right. He didn’t expect it, that’s all, it was absolutely not because seeing Kuroo and hearing him say his name was making him nervous and weak in the knees. No, sir.

“Hey Kuroo.”

Surprisingly so, he was in uniform, like last time. His hair cut was even worse, sticking unnaturally high on his head, still covering his right eye but split in two parts. Absolutely awful. Was he doing that on purpose?

“Oh, we’re back to Kuroo?”, he asked with this teasing edge in his voice that was not as seductive as he probably thought. Okay, it was kinda working on him, but that was irrelevant.

“What do you mean?”

Kuroo pouted, and, okay, maybe that was exactly as cute as he probably thought. Again, not that he needed to know.

“Last time, it was just Kuro! It was cute, feel free to go back to it anytime!”

Oh. He remembered casting the spell, and Kuroo turning around. Of course that’s what he would think. Well, there was no way to explain that without making the conversation awkward; so, no turning back now.

“I’ll see if you deserve it”, Kenma answered, too preoccupied with the memory to really think about the words before they left his mouth. Which was really stupid. Too much thinking about not making the conversation awkward made it worse. This was why he didn’t talk to people.

Kuroo smirked, because of course he did. “I’ll do my best”, he answered. And then, mercifully, he changed the subject. “New hair color again?”

“Hm.” He passed a strand of dark blue hair between his fingers. “Shouyou’s trying to attain orange. As you can see, he’s not exactly getting closer.”

“I can’t really see, actually.” Kuroo said, shrugging.

Kenma glanced at the darkened sky. Ah, yes, he had a tendency to forget about that. The moon was barely hidden by thin clouds, but it was enough to surround the tiny street with shadows. It was a little past the first quarter. Not ideal, but it would be enough. He focused on the light, falling in large drapes and a few odd threads. Those were the ones he could move. He caught a few, navigating them in the empty spaces, guiding them to their little corner.

“Better?”, he asked, looking back at Kuroo.

Kuroo had an open face. Kenma wasn’t always good at reading people, misunderstanding cues and shifts that meant nothing to him. But so far, the young man had been easy to understand, clearly expressing and saying his happiness or his confusion. This time, however. Kenma had no idea what he was thinking. His face seemed blank to him, his eyes apparently fixated on his hair. Blue wasn’t really weirder than pink, so really, he didn’t know why.

After a few second, Kuroo shifted. He laid back, his shoulders dropped, and his stare left Kenma’s hair to lock eyes with him. He smiled a little bit, not like the smiles he did before. This wasn’t the flirty, mocking grin, or the big cute stupid smile, this was an expression that looked like it just belonged here. Like he was just relaxing, and the corners of his mouth quirked up by themselves. At this point, Kenma felt like he really should have expected something like that. Kuroo was objectively attractive, there was no denying it, so now that he had accepted it, it should have been fine. But apparently not. He kept surprising him.

“Yeah”, Kuroo finally said, “much better. I thought you had returned to brown, but this is way better. Just as beautiful as the pink.”

Kenma dropped his eyes immediately, realizing that whoever in his brain had convinced him that he would be able to hold this man’s gaze, they had been wrong. He narrowly stopped himself from biting his lip. Don’t make this weird. Don’t make this weirder. Say something normal. Accept the compliment.

“Thanks.”

Oh no, he sounded angry, didn’t he? His own ability to worsen every situation would never cease to amaze him.

“By the way, were you just waiting for me outside?” The man casually interrupted the spiral of his thoughts. For better or for worse, the future would tell. “Weren’t you cold?”

Kenma shrugged. He was dressed warmly enough, and anyway, he had been too absorbed in his own head to notice.

“Can we go inside?”, asked Kuroo.

Now, that was an interesting question. Kenma’s family lived upstairs. His dads weren’t always there, usually one or at most two leaving at a time, leaving at least one of them to handle the house and the shop. But right now, the three of them were here. His little brothers were here, with the exception of Tadashi having a sleepover, but Hitoka, who had tried to live in her university’s dorms at the beginning of the school year, was back. Every one of them could randomly wake up and overhear them. And he really, really didn’t want to have to tell his family why he was explaining magic to a random pretty boy, in their shop, in the middle of the night. And gods, he really didn’t want Kuroo to meet his family either. Not yet. Not ever. Oh, no, he had to stop thinking about that.

 _Focus on your options_. On the other hand… He didn’t want to say no to Kuroo. He wanted to sit with him on the cosy cushions in the corner, see if there was some tea cups ready to be used, and explain how you could connect to everything around you, and how he could do it too, and maybe he was biased, but he really thought it could be beautiful.

“Yeah.” He couldn’t resist smiling a little, so, to make it less weird, he forced himself to look into Kuroo eyes for a second. Just an instant. And it wasn’t so bad. “Come with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for pretending I could have a regular updating schedule... The next chapter is completely ready so I should post it in a week or two? When i have the nerve for it I guess, so anyway I hope no one's too impatient for my mess........ thank you again for reading, please leave some feedback! Quote at the beginning is from Sun by Sleeping at last.

**Author's Note:**

> More than half the chapters are done, I'll post them once per week I think! Thank you very much for reading it, please leave a comment if you liked it, even two words make my day!!


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